SUPPRESSION OF QUACKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 118, 5 October 1912, Page 7

SUPPRESSION OF QUACKS.

BEWARE OF" CURES." I" I '- 'lt is siiridusly 1 proposed by the Medi'cjil, Tinjes (New. Y.ork) t that laws be parsed by tlfe ''Various Stale' Legislatures rliafe' /ijijr 'it. a"crjlme"to 'assejrt publicly tlia.t a ijiedicine wilj positively "cure" iany '.disease!. 'Sucll, assertion it considers,, primp, eykleiice.of fraud.. Says Itlus* pa P ßr:_. "j ' !. . •. "The. wclbsprings of hope which bubbly, up in the breasts of mankind have made, manufactures of.nostrums person suffering-'irom chronic aiiitieni grasps at any straw so long as it is lfib-, elled with a nic'dk-al name. He gets: the, expti'lei/ce, (Often.!.of the. sorriest nature,, while the quack gets the money. Msn,. : talte; -pa.tdit. niedicincs largely on t'pf-'. their! failsglj^/extravagant 'claims , of value.. ' The advertisement' announces that the- nostrum will .'c-ur,e! ( . from one .fy*. forty diseases, and the ihppveeni arid ignorant, public is gulled in'ia. ipurchasing. .- ; . . . .:."/(Dure' as :#.■ word which reputable phv-. sicians use with the greatest precaution. iT-he practitioner who claims lie can .'cure' -a'.particular- disease is a fakir, and has; .no jjlacc.'iii the.profession. He can say., :tliat by .various means at his dispogp] •- he hojies to effect a, cure, but until modi-, cine becomes an exact, science no one can safely proclaim himself positively able bring about a complete recovery. Phy-. sicians journeying to the sessions of the' A.M.A. at, Atlantic. City were amazed at the elTrontery of a patent medicine conr. ccrn in announcing on huge signs that' a certain nostrum 'cures' eczema. medical profession has found this disease most difficult to overcome, blit the quacks have no hesitancy in claiming a 'cure' in their nostrum. To those who know, the assertion that this, patent medicine 'cures' eczema is rankest nonsense. and it should be made a serious 1 ottYnee to. put forih such silly, misleading. and at tunes harmful statements. "We would like to see a law on the statute book of every State making a public claim of 'cure' a penal offence.. There is a movement started by Pi inters' Ink to eradicate the advertising fakir. If this will include the lying statements of the patent medicine man we will rejoice. If not. let some Moses arise to -lead movement wliicli will chase the„.jnen who say they can into some whence retVirn i»< impossible. Let us emphatically 'tepeaiv! that no reputable physician will a<iafriri|s tee a 'cure'."' \ jj